Just a few hours left of 2009 here in New York City. We’re going to celebrate with friends in Queens. I was thinking today as I drove back from the church in Syosset how many things changed and happened this past year.
When the year began we had only moved to the city a couple months earlier. Neither Olivia nor I had a job yet and our savings were pretty much gone. I had interviewed at on church, but it didn’t work out — all we could say was, “Lord, do what You will.”
Olivia got a job at a doctor’s office almost right away. I interviewed with another church (that one wasn’t it either!) and got ready to do some temp office work. In the meantime I walked pretty much all the neighborhoods in New York just praying and trying to hear what He was saying for us. (This was one of the most wonderful seasons yet in my walk with the Lord:) I finally got a temp job at an office and then another at the NFL.
Olivia found a new opera coach that turned out to be a great help to her as she gets ready to go to the next level in her career.
I went back and forth as to what the Lord wanted from me…did He want me leading worship in a church?…did He want me to go back into songwriting?…did He want me to pursue business at the NFL and lead worship part-time?
Towards the end of 2009 the Lord revealed what He had here for me. I was called as the worship pastor of Shelter Rock Church on Long Island. I started a couple weeks ago and He’s already doing wonderful things.
So, here comes 2010. I’m beginning to see that I need to stop making all these elaborate plans and just follow Jesus. The Spirit will order my steps. He will lead me on a an adventure that I could never come up with on my own.
Lord, I give You 2010. It is Yours, I am Yours. I rejoice in Your presence and Your ways.
(Check out the archives for more details on all our happenings!)
Ben,
I’ve been reading some of your comments and I feel I can connect with many of the things that you wrote. Me and my wife moved to Brooklyn to work at a Church (I was the Associate Pastor and my wife the manager of one of the Church’s outreach ministries). It didn’t work the way we all thought it would. Now we are in a transition time, praying to God, hoping to see what God has in store for us. We both have spent a lot of time and energy (We both have masters in theology and my wife is pursuing a second masters in spiritual theology in New York) and sometimes we get discouraged while we wait. But we hope and we know that God has a perfect plan for our lives.
I was encouraged by your blog, and I’m so happy to read about your testimony. Blessings to you and Olivia (me and my wife, big fans!).
Samuel Arroyo